Notable Snub: Shaquille O'Neal (Over guys like T-Mac, Billups, Jax, and Big Al... his resurgence is a big story but I doubt coaches keep Nash off and Suns don't really warrant 3 stars)

Of course, this is all pending whether or not China screws everything up and votes Yi Jianlian into the starting lineup. One would hope that the olympics in China causes some of their votes to go to some of the worthy talent they saw.

Last night Magic Johnson was shamelessly self promoting himself with Stuart Scott and when he was forced to actually talk about basketball, he mentioned that the NBA is the most talented it's been in over 10 years. Taking a look at all the snubbed talent, I agree. We've got at least 5 legit MVP candidates (LeBron, Kobe, Wade, Paul, Howard) and a number of great players who are starting to decline but for now they are still among the elite (KG, AI, Duncan, Nash, Dirk, even Shaq). Along with all the all-stars still in their primes (Gasol, Boozer, Bosh, Amare, Deron, Parker, Yao, West, Melo, anyone else I didn't get to) it's an exciting time to be a basketball fan.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

NdaZone4 wroteon Nov 22 2008 12:02 PM2K insider please stop. You have become the worst thing to ever happen to nba 2k and most people agree on this. You have no clue about what your doing and thats a fact. I rather have default ratings and just missing players added to the game so that I dont have to tone down every player you touch.

So I figure nows as good a time as any to edit the Knicks since they just made all their trades. And I'm checking out Zach Randolph, who the Insider listed in his "Biggest Movers" section. Let me share these head scratchers with you. As someone whose watched every Knick game this season, to say I disagree with his evaluation would be an understatement.

Overall 86 (from 84)
Worth noting Randolph was an 83 at default so he's jumped up 3 points since the game's release. Let's check out his "substantial improvement", shall we?

Close 95 (from 94)
That gives him the same rating as Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan, 1 point higher than Yao Ming, 3 points higher than Dwight Howard. In case you didn't know, Randolph is shooting a measley 43% from the field. That's poor for a guard, much less a power forward. Here's a nifty chart to show just how off-base that rating is.

If anyone can find any defensible logic for this guy, please, step up to the plate.

What's most comical is that Amare actually shot 48% from mid-range LAST SEASON as well, and over half his shots are jumpers. To put in perspective how embarrassingly bad that is, the Insider gave a 76 MR to Luc Mbah a Moute. This man is on the 2K Sports payroll and you are all paying his salary. Especially when you defend junk like this.

3PT 77 (up from 76)
Randolph was a 69 at default. He's shooting 29% from deep and has never shot 30% in his entire career. A 77 is only 6 points worse than Dirk, for those keeping score at home.

Dirk has averaged 1.33 threes per game in his career.
Zach has avreaged 0.12 threes per game in his career.

Again, if any of my detractors can explain this one, feel free.

76 steal (from 65)Congratulations Insider. I would have thought it to be humanly impossible for someone to think Zach Randolph would ever deserve an above average steal rating. Thanks for defying the odds and making world history.

It's pretty clear to see you have no concept of "pace", something we'll have to illustrate now as it's used later. Randolph is averaging 1.2 spg, up from last seasons 0.9. I'm not exactly sure a 0.3 point improvement deserves an 11 point boost to begin with, but that's not the point. The Knicks are a high tempo team. High tempo = more possessions. That's more opportunities for points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks.

Back in the early days of basketball, there was no shot clock. Forget players averaging 30 points, that's what TEAMS averaged. There was no urgency to take a shot, in fact the point was to get the highest percentage shot possible in order to not waste the possession. This made basketball a very boring sport to watch. Enter the shot clock. This nifty contraption increased statistics across the board because it forced teams to play at a faster pace.

10 rebounds is not impressive if there are 1000 missed shots in a game, but if there were only 10 missed shots all game, that's godly. Player A grabbed only 1% of the game's rebounds, while player B grabbed 100%. Context, context, context.

It should be common sense that the Knicks and other high tempo teams (pre 08 Suns, Warriors, Nuggets, etc) all put up inflated stats because they have more possessions per game than the other teams in the league due entirely to the speed they play the game at.

So when I saw that Randolph was only getting a steal on 1.6% of possessions (barely up from 1.4% last season), it didn't surprise me in the slightest.

94 Offensive Rebound (from 80)This one could very well be the worst. Apply the same pace factors as before. Randolph is averaging 3.7 ORB, but in such a high tempo offense, that's nothing. If he were truly a 94 he'd be averaging well over 4 under such circumstances.

What's most maddening is that Z-Bo's ORBs tie into his poor shooting percentage, as more often than not he is grabbing his own missed shot, rather than boxing out during a teammates' missed shot.

Z-Bo is grabbing only 10.5% of his team's missed shots when he's on the floor. To give you an idea of how overrated that is, here's Jeff Foster.

Randolph is not even within 5% of last season's league leader yet he is only 5 rating points away. Foster isn't matching his previous numbers right now but he is still grabbing 11.5%, a full point better than Randolph. Randolph only grabbed 9% last season, just in case you were wondering. His 10.0 career% does not exactly compare favorably to Foster's 15.0. The difference between Foster and Randolph is literally the difference between ZBo and Nate Robinson (or the difference between Nate Robinson and nothing at all). And yet, ZBo is 5 points from the top.

Randolph is 5 points away from the max rating yet he is only 17th in the league in OffReb%. There are 8 players in the league grabbing a full 2% more. And that's only among qualifiers, as you'll note Foster is absent.

Only two of those players have a higher rating than Randolph, Biedrins and Dampier, both 99). Dwight Howard is tied with ZBo at 94. That's the top 3 in the ****ing league right there. Boozer, who is actually averaging 4 ORB despite playing for a team ranked 23rd in pace, is measley 84.

The 2K Insider is paid to know this stuff and actually evaluate players like I am. He is pushed on us like he knows more than the so-called common fan, and that's what makes him more qualified to do this than a so-called "Outsider". I will continue to stand by my assertation that any defense of his so-called ability falls somewhere between cronyism and sheer ignorance. It's one thing for an employee with an agenda on the company payroll (like a forum administrator) to fully support blindness. It's quite another thing for a human being with the luxury of eyes and ears.

Zach Randolph traded by the Knicks: The moment I've been waiting for since draft night 2007.

Tim Thomas returns to NY: A moment I've been dreading my entire life.

This pretty much sums up my feeling on the two trades the Knicks made today. Jamal Crawford is heading to Golden State for Al Harrington. Al already hated being forced into an Antoine Walker offensive role, so I can't imagine him liking Mike D'Antoni's system all that much better. Proximity to roots in Jersey as well as escape from Nellie the bitter coach will probably ease the burden. I'm sure D'Antoni has big things in store for Al, as he's been waiting for a PF with a legit deep stroke (sorry Zach, 29% 3pt shooting does not qualify) ever since he lost Tim Thomas. Who coinkydinkly is coming in from LALA land.

Crawford heads to Golden State where he could really thrive. If there's any team Crawford could succeed as a PG, it's this one. He might even remind some of B-Diddy with his handle, flashyness, and penchant for bombing away from long range. Just don't expect any AK47 jams. When Monta comes back this team is scary deep and could even be better than the 06 team (Maggette is much better right now than J-Rich was that year coming off knee surgery).

I've hated Randolph's game since Isiah foolishly traded for him. I've said it before and I'll say it again - the Knicks would have been infinitely better off keeping Channing Frye. Frye makes 3 million, and the Blazers paid Steve Francis to go away. Randolph was making 14 million per with 48 mil due to him over 4 years. Walsh dumped Randolph for Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas, two veterans who shouldn't be starting at this point and are only here so their contracts expire sooner (I suppose they are much better than the Darko/Marko package from the summer). Since Ariza was also traded for Francis, the Knicks essentially lost Ariza/Frye for absolutely nothing but 2010 cap room. Just another reason why Isiah is the worst GM we've seen in a long time.

While the Clippers are gambling picking up Randolph's huge deal, he is a major upgrade from Tim Thomas. The Clippers now have a legit front line with Randolph/Kaman up front and Camby backing up both off the bench. And Z-Bo should help take the pressure off Al Thornton (or at least take his shots away). They also dumped Cat Mobley which is addition by subtraction since he was just stealing minutes from rookie Eric Gordon. Maybe the deal gets Ricky D going too since he's the starter now.

In summary, the Clippers and Warriors made improvements that should be reflected in both real life and the video game world. As for the Knicks, Donnie Walsh must have gotten scared that the team was actually going to finish above .500. The pieces they picked up could excel in the system and make the fall a little softer, but at this point we're running out of reasons to actually use the Knicks in the VG world. Crawford was just replaced with a shorter Q-Rich and Harrington's 3pt shooting isn't going to replace Randolph's post ability. 2010 can't come soon enough for Knick fans.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

2k Sports finally finished adding all the missing players (aside from Rob Kurz) so I'm starting from scratch for the final time. Here's the latest progress.

*NOTE: Accessory lovers will be happy to know each of these players has been updated. Shoes I haven't focused on because players change shoes every game. Most teams alternate between black and white for road and home. (And honestly, the options are a bit limiting this year).

Sunday, November 16, 2008

I have no idea how I did this but I somehow saved the default roster over my file. (This is why I write stuff down). Needless to say this will delay the release of my next roster. (Which I suppose will be 4.0 because...) the one positive is I get to use the 2k Sports update which has some players added rather than going with CAPs.

Mayo is averaging 19.0 points p36m and 2.2 assists p36m. I have no idea how this befits an 85 offensive awareness. That is Zach Randolph type selfishness. How can a guard that averages 2 assists playing that many minutes really be that offensively aware?

Bboosting up Mayo's 3pt rating is difficult to understand. Yes, he was shooting 42%. But after going 1-6 in his last game that drops him back down to 39%. Shooting percentages are much too fickle early on and it was not reasonable to expect him to continue shooting such a high percentage. So now he is overrated until he changes it back, if he ever gets around to it. I don't expect that he will since he cant keep spending the same time each week on the same players and he just gave Mayo an overhaul, so it looks like Mayo's 3pt rating will be higher than it should be for the foreseeable future.

Not helping matters is Mayo remains a bit overrated defensively. He didn't touch any defensive ratings and I don't expect him to, as I doubt the 2k Insider has much grasp of anything defensively aside from blocked shots (and even then he has a limited grasp which has been pointed out in various examples).

Now regarding my end, I gave Mayo an 81 last week after a tirade in which I compared him to a young Cuttino Mobley. Mayo then proceeded to shut me up by averaging 26.5 ppg over his last four games. So as a reasonable person, I'll take that and raise his rating. I've now got him at an 84 which I think is pretty fair. An 86 is really pushing it.

Derrick Rose+5 Close+4 Med+2 3pt+13 FT+4 Layup (now 99)+3 Dunk (now 92... how many dunks does he have on the year? Three?)+2 Handle+2 Speed+9 Stamina (now 99. When are they gonna do that to CHRIS PAUL?)+7 OffAwr (an 89 for a rookie PG that averages 17 pts and 5 asts. 8 year pro 20/6 Tony Parker is a 91 if you were wondering).+2 Vert (now 98)+3 Quick (now 98)

Nothing too outrageous to focus on, my notes pretty much sum it up, moving along to the next one.

Let me say this now: I love Nate Robinson. He's become my favorite player on the Knicks, he's a legitimate scorer in this league, and he's actually a legit point guard now.

That said, he is not a better rebounder than Jason Kidd. Nate is not rebounding any better than he has been his entire career. Why fix what ain't broken? An 82 offensive rebound rating is atrocious, he is overrated by like 15 points now.

What I don't understand is if you're overrating him because of his height, why the hell does Yao Ming have such high rebound ratings every year? Shouldn't he be in the 70s reboundingwise if that's your logic?

As you can see, most of Rudy's shots are threes (nearly two thirds!) and he's shot a ridiculous 46% on a high volume of shots. I ain't disputing his 3pt rating though.

Rudy is 16-33 from the field on non-3pters. That's 48% on approx 3 shots per game. How the hell does 16-33 translate to a 14 point jump in Close shot and a 4 point jump in Mid shot? Rudy has better shot ratings than Kobe ****ing Bryant. Don't get me started on Tracy McGrady (who btw, Rudy has the same dunk rating as now). Okay, maybe I should get started...

I could seriously go on another 20 players, but I've got a blog to write.

What do all those players have in common? They are STARTERS, unlike Rudy.

Oh, and then there's the matter of his defense. He was given +8 to DefAwr, meanwhile opposing SGs have absolutely torched him for the following numbers.

.608 eFG%23.7 Pp48m22.6 PER

Wow, obviously this is a guy who knows what he's doing on defense. Nevermind that every credible pre-NBA scouting report out there says the guy is a poor defender, albeit one with potential to one day be good enough to deserve a 78.

So congratulations 2K Sports. You hired someone who never heard of balance, nor does he know anything about the nature of sample size. We are left wondering if these non-stars will be lowered in the future, or whether we are going to have to suffer through getting spanked by them online because they shot the ball well the first three weeks of the season.

Either that, or you actually believe the guy has done his job. All four of these players are very popular and you probably think it will keep the fans happy. Maybe it will. But then again, since I have the top downloaded/highest rated file on 2K Share, PROBABLYYYYY NOTTTTT. It's a shame we don't have the option of rating the 2K Insider's files so 2K can actually see what we think. But then, have they ever actually cared what we think in the first place?

Gasol has been a nice surprise in Memphis, averaging 10/9 with a block. I don't have too many problems with this one other than the inflated block rating and some expected general laziness (Why not improve his steal rating? Why have a center averaging 10 points and 1 assist with such a high OffAwr? etc)

It's so obvious Johnson has not improved in this department. Andre Miller had a 1.8 steal% last year and he's a 72. Seriously, of all the ratings to jump by SEVENTEEN POINTS he picks the least likely to stick????

1. Chandler has started the last two games at PF and has mostly played there even when coming off the bench. Yet he remains a SF.
2. 78 Defensive Awareness? OMG. I've watched every Knick game, the kid is 20, he doesn't have great awareness. He's got a high foul rate and doesn't get many stops.
3. It'd be great if Chandler actually deserved that OffReb boost. Unfortunately, with an offreb rate of 6.9% (up from last year's 6.1%) he very obviously did not.

Gallinari was going to make it into my 3.0 changes (along with Q-Rich) but I decided to save him for 3.1. Interestingly, Gally still has a higher rating than the aforementioned Q-Rich. Also, am I missing something when the Insider raises his potential but not Chandler's from a dismal 64?

Not much to complain about here, Alston has been really bad this season. Thing is, he's been as bad as Mike Conley, yet Conley is all the way down at 72. So what spared the 29 shooting Alston? His assist rate is even lower than Conley's yet only dropped from an 80 pass to 77.

Biedrins best two performances this year with both against the Grizzlies. That should tell you all you need to know about how legit his stats are. He fouled out in 2 of his 3 games against playoff teams. I love Andris, but +4 overall because he can spank the mighty Grizzlies? Really?

THE REST OF THE UPDATE

In the interest of sleep, here's a fast forward version of the rest of the updates I uncovered.

The 2K Insider doesn't mention it, but he also updated Joel Przybilla's block from 79 to 87. I find this interesting as Przybilla has blocked only 4 shots in 6 games.

Block%
2006: 7.1
2007: 7.6
2008: 4.02009: 1.8

Pryzbilla deserved an 87 in 2007, But given his drop in shot blocking in 2008 (by almost half), and that he has yet to show that was a fluke, wouldn't it have made sense to wait until he actually started producing at that level again? Right now he is a quarter of the shot blocker he was two years ago. This deserves a boost????

He did the same thing for Andrei Kirilenko, boosting his blocks from 75 to 83, and his steals from 75 to 81, though Kirilenko is at least justifiable.

Anthony Roberson was added to the Knicks roster, though that the Insider has him listed at PG shows his limited grasp on the NBA.
Sun Yue was also added, hooray!
WOMG Von Wafer too.
Ian Mahinmi finally added after two years.
DeMarcus Nelson I just noticed has Howard Eisley's pic LOL

Devin Harris
+3 overall (86 from 83)
+10 DefAwr (86 from 76)

The Insider is apparently still completely unaware that Harris is under contract for FIVE YEARS, not ONE.

George Hill was updated, but I don't have his default stats handy. Basiclaly his absurdly high shot ratings were fixed.

The first thing I notice is four of those five teams were among the NBA leaders in pace, with Orlando subbing for Denver. This gives us a pretty good idea of what the percentage data is going to reveal.

2K has Orlando in the bottom third of the league as far as attempting threes is concerned. It doesn't get anymore backward than that.

The Suns btw, clearly do not deserve such a high tendency here as they were no longer the long bombing team of the initial Nash days (a trend that has continued even further this season). Should have been obvious that a team sporting Hill/Amare/Shaq wouldn't pump as many threes as one with Nash/JJ/Q-Rich/Marion/Barbosa or Nash/Bell/Tim Thomas/Marion/Barbosa, or that this number would have gone down just by removing D'Antoni as coach.

Turkoglu and Lewis did not attempt a three. They attempted 6 FTs on their 5 FGs as they pounded the paint. Interestingly enough, the three players who take it to the rim least got to the line 8 more times than Howard did.

Pts from...
Paint: 36 (72%)
Line: 7 (14%)
Mid: 4 (8%)
Three: 3 (6%)

Only six percent of Orlando's points were on threes. Only 3 of their 27 FGA were threes - a mere 11% of their shots (and its not like I fouled them on any of their jumpers either).

It's not just their 3pt tendency that's a problem though. They have the highest close tendency in the league with 77, so simply raising their 3pt tendency doesn't fix things.

Tomorrow I'm going to get started on rectifying this problem and establishing a scale for the teams.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

FEATURES
Updated Coach Profiles (Team Sliders) for all 30 NBA teams!
Updated ratings for players featured in the Biggest Movers section of the blog!
Accurate rosters and rotations for all 30 NBA teams!
Every missing player on an NBA roster has been added to the game!
Accurate contracts for most NBA players!

Players who have changes in overall rating due to position changes will no longer be included. David Lee last week got a -2 when I switched him to C from PF, and really, it doesn't make sense to list him again now that I've yo-yoed on that (Randolph is officially the starting center as Lee backs up both spots off the bench). It doesn't make sense to list players who haven't actually improved/regressed (unless there is a substantial rating change attached to their position change, which shouldn't be too common).

Even though Skiles is reluctant to start him, Sessions has shown he is the top PG in Milwaukee at that last year was no fluke. I watched him take Chris Duhon off the dribble consistently. His defense isn't great, but neither is Luke Ridnour's. I understand Sessions being part of the 2nd unit as they don't have anyone else who can create shots, but if Sessions continues to play at a high level there is no way Skiles is going to be able to keep him out of the lineup.

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (+5)

Prince M&M has been a welcome surprise in Milwaukee, as he is outplaying lottery pick Joe Alexander despite being drafted in the second round. Scott Skiles loves his defense and effort, which has made him Charlie Villanueva's primary backup (instead of Malik Allen, thank god).

He doesn't have the greatest upside, but he should be able to stick in the league a long time as a role player.

Darrell Arthur (+3)

Arthur has been a rebound machine and is starting over Hakim Warrick. Arthur carries a 14.55 PER despite a .370 FG% - suggesting he'd be an average player if he experiences even a minor improvement in this area.

Marc Gasol (+6)

Gasol is the starting center in Memphis and there is absolutely no reason he should be rated lower than Darko Milicic. He is a much better rebounder and shot blocker than 2k gave him credit for.

Marvin Williams (+1)

Marvin is 4-7 from 3pt range this season after going 1-10 all of last year. It was reported he'd improved his stroke and this confirms it.

DROPPING LIKE FLIES...

Elton Brand (-2)

Brand is not looking like the 20/10 player the Sixers were (perhaps naively) expecting when they traded away most of their assests and shelled out an 80 million dollar contract.

Brand is an undersized power forward, and because he plays further below the rim, his decline will begin earlier than a bigger player (like a Duncan or Garnett). He is also coming off a ruptured achilles injury that caused him to miss an entire season. Brand has never been a great athlete, and I don't think a serious foot injury right before your 30s is all that easy to ignore (but then, I'm not a desperate Philadelphia fan either).

Brand was not quite himself after returning from injury last season, which natural to expect. However, he is struggling to even replicate his declined production now. His PER right now is 9 points worse than his last healthy season, and a whopping 12.5 points worse than his best season.

Brand has struggled offensively with the Sixers. This isn't entirely his fault. Orlando doubled Brand at the catch rather than letting him operate in the post. Brand was only able to get 8 shots in that game. Philadelphia is one of the worst shooting teams in the league and unless they can make substantial improvement teams will continue to employ this strategy with success against the Sixers. The part that is Brand's fault is his injury has robbed him of some quickness and explosiveness. He is struggling to finish shots down low are before he'd even catch the ball. He is shooting only 46% from the field despite being 50% for his career.

Another scary statistic is Brand's blocked shots. From 2003 to 2006 Brand was blocking over 2 shots per game, but so far this year he has only blocked 3 in 6 games. After blocking 4-5% of all shots through his prime, Brand is down to 1.4% right now, a rating that would net him around a 59-60 block - and is also traceable to his achilles injury robbing him of some lift.

The one thing Brand has done well is rebound. Brand's rebounds have declined every year since 2003, but he is currently boarding at a rate comparable to his Bulls days. However, this could be an early fluke as the Sixers haven't played the greatest rebounding teams so far. Still, at least there is one positive to take out of Brand's season so far, and it will be interesting to see if he can maintain it to offset his decline in the other areas.

Ricky Davis (-2)

Ricky has had a horrible start to the season. After getting a rep as a stat padder on bad teams, he was surprisingly quiet for the 15 win Heat last season, and wasn't even able to get off the bench much in Baron Davis' absense. We need to look at Ricky's past production to look for any outliers for what we can expect for the rest of the season.

Ricky's first three years (age 19-21) he played sparingly as he was raw, traded twice, stuck behind vets on playoff teams, and injured.

He was traded to Cleveland where he got PT, developed into a competent sixth man, and became "the man" on a team that with Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Carlos Boozer, and Dajuan Wagner (one can only wonder how many they'd have actually won if Booze or Z got more touches). Cleveland drafted LeBron which spelled the end for Ricky and he was traded to Boston. He was the #2 option behind Pierce, and the team lost in the first round twice (Davis has a 10.2 PER in 11 playoff games). He was traded to Minnesota where he was the #2 guy behind Kevin Garnett and ultimately could not will the team to the playoffs.

At age 28 he returned to Miami where he was thought to be a 3rd cog for Shaq and Wade. He ultimately fizzled and had a career worst 12.0 PER. Not exactly the note he wanted to enter free agency on. He signed with the Clippers for a bargain contract but has been a bust so far. Ricky has an unthinkably bad 1.6 PER through six games.

Yes, you read that correctly, Ricky Davis has a 1.6 PER. The league average PER is 15.0.

Ricky is 29 years old, and has averaged 31 mpg through his career, an unusally high number for a player with a career 15.1 PER. As a player who relies so much on his athletic talents (and has logged so many minutes), Ricky isn't expected to age very well once he gets into his 30s. But for him to fall apart completely at age 29? I don't think there is anyone who could have predicted this.

The NBA is a league where veterans are consistent. It's not like baseball where a player can hit .314 with 44 home runs (an MVP caliber season), and then follow it up with .275 and 19 homers (a slightly above average season). (Shoutouts to whomever can name this player). Players don't go from MVP to average in one NBA season. Likewise, average players don't become D-Leaguers overnight. However I do think we have to consider that Davis' 2007 decline was real (or that he just doesn't care about basketball anymore).

Jason Hart (-1)

Hart has played terribly thus far and has actually fallen out of the rotation in favor of 2008 #55 draft pick Mike Taylor. He is shooting .308 from the field after shooting .322 last year. Last year I considered a fluke for Hart since he didn't get much PT, but if he doesn't get it turned around fast that won't be the case for long.

O.J. Mayo (-1)

Mayo is off to a good start in the league, and some fans are clamoring for his rating to go up. But make no mistake, he is a total hog. 71 pass rating is just a bit steep for a high usage guard averaging only 1.8 assists in 39 minutes per game. Scoringwise, 17 ppg is pretty good for a rookie, but then, most rookies don't average 39 minutes per game. Mayo's selfishness should remind us of last year's Rookie of the Year, Kevin Durant. Durant averaged 20 ppg last year, but he also did so in 5 fewer minutes per game than Mayo. Mayo was actually being touted as a combo guard, but it is clear that isn't the case... which makes him an undersized SG putting up worse scoring numbers than Ben Gordon. At 6'4", what exactly seperates him from a young Cuttino Mobley?

LATEST NEWS

Josh Smith (ATL)

Smith will miss 2-4 weeks with an ankle sprain. Zaza Pachulia replaced him in the starting lineup, with Al Horford sliding over to cover Smith's PF.Kirk Hinrich (CHI)

Captain Kirk will be out for approximately three months with "a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his thumb." Ouch. He will be missed. Ben Gordon has replaced him thus far, and Larry Hughes can be expected to pick up some minutes upon his return from injury.

Steven Hunter (DEN)

Hunter is having knee surgery that could potentially end his career. It goes without saying that his odds of getting on the court this season appear to be dim.

Steven Hill (OKC)

Size-starved Oklahoma brought in Hill as most of their centers are on the shelf. His signing should hopefully start a movement that leads to Memphis and Oklahoma swapping franchise names.

Tony Parker (SA)

Parker will miss 2-4 weeks with a sprained ankle that could be devastating to the Spurs' season. He was averaging 27.4 ppg and 5.8 apg to make up for Ginobiii's production. Rookie PG George Hill will start in Parker's absence.

Adrian Griffin (FA)

Griffin was named an assistant coach in Milwaukee (under his former Bulls coach Scott Skiles), effectively retiring him. He spent time as a defensive role player in Boston, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, and Seattle; he ends his career with averages of 4.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg, and 1.4 apg.

Antonio McDyess (FA)

As expected, Denver negotiated a buyout with McDyess and he remains likely to return to the Pistons after a 30-day mandatory waiting period.

SUMMARY
Chris Bosh posted a solid double double with 30 and 15 and became only the second player to reach the 7,000 point mark in Toronto. Bargnani came off the bench to chip in 18. The Bobcats top two scorers were held to 18 points combined. Charlotte was led by backup PG D.J. Augustin's 14 points.

SUMMARY
Surprise!!! The Knicks are 4-2. Even bigger surprise. The Knicks and D'Antoni used DEFENSE in the second half to get their first quality win of the season. Utah turnovers keyed the second half charge for the Knicks as the Jazz stumbled for the first time this year.

SUMMARY
The Clips got their first win of the season on the shoulders of their star Baron Davis. Their bench led by Eric Gordon's 10 points outscored the Mavs bench 34-22. Marcus Camby had a solid performance netting 9 points and 14 rebounds.

SUMMARY
The Celtics bench scored 43 points to help knock off the Pistons who are 0-2 since the trade. Did Joe Dumars actually think this would make them contenders? Even if Iverson plays well, they will be fighting for the 7 or 8 spot in the East.

SUMMARY
The Hawks remain undefeated even without lock down defender Josh Smith. Atlanta continues to build upon the success of last year and I predict they can secure one of the top four seeds in the East.

SUMMARY
O.J. Mayo scored 26 points in the first half. Unfortunately for the Grizzlies, he cooled off and Rudy Gay never got on in the second half. Denver is expected to buyout McDyess' contract on Monday so look for him to resign with the Pistons. Melo also missed two dunks that will likely make it into this years bloopers DVD.

DUDS
Monta Ellis - Yeah I know he didn't play. But who else can I blame their below par performance on.

SUMMARY
The Kings have a good nucleus of young talent. Brad Miller and Spencer Hawes both chipped in with double doubles. Kevin Martin aggravated his injured ankle but it isn't serious. The Kings have won three straight.

SUMMARY
Harris sat out this one with an ankle injury, so Vince was left to fend for himself. Yi Jianlian is starting to remind me of a skinny Troy Murphy. Danny Granger had 23 points on a poor shooting night but the rest of his teammates provided enough firepower to deliver the victory. New Jersey only scored 27 points in the second half

SUMMARY
CP3 had his sixth consecutive 20/10 game to start the season, breaking Oscar Robertson's NBA record, in case you needed even more evidence that his MVP caliber season was for real. Speaking of MVP caliber, Wade would be heading there if his team had more talent.

DUDS
SUMMARY
Ben Gordon got the start as it was revealed Kirk Hinrich will miss the next three months due to thumb surgery. This is huge news for the Bulls for a variety of reasons.

Gordon is a much better fit next to Derrick Rose as he is more comfortable playing off the ball than Hinrich. And really, it's about time Gordon got to start after being the sixth man his entire Chicago career. The guy has something to prove regarding his next contract so they might as well just reap the benefits.

However, Hinrich was logging all the backup PG minutes and suddenly the Bulls are without a backup to their rookie PG for 3 months. My guess is they could stand pat and just let Larry Hughes fill that role when he returns in about a week. But this is also Larry Hughes we're talking about. Can't the team just go out and get an actual backup? The Bulls do have an open roster spot, so my guess is they'll bring in a serviceable vet like Eddie Gill in the meantime.

Oh, and LeBron scored 41 tonight. *Shrug* The LeBroniers are off to a 5-2 start, so maybe their underachieving regular season days are over.

SUMMARY
Looks like giving Shaq periodic rest is a smashingly good idea. In other news, Scott Skiles really hates Charlie Villanueva. One of my friends used to chill with him so pleaseeeee trade him to NY. While you're at it, send us Ramon Sessions too since it's so obvious you hate him too Skiles. Malik Rose + Mardy Collins would probably be enough for you (sadly).

SUMMARYWilson Chandler is the new starting PF in NY! He finished with 17 pts and 4 rebs. David Lee came off the bench and played all the backup PF and C minutes, which kept Malik Rose off the court. Dixon, Young, and McGee played heavy minutes compared to starters Daniels, Stevenson, and Thomas, so there could be a lineup change or two down the line.

SUMMARY
Vintage Bibby tonight. Lots of Bosh and not much else for Toronto. J-Smoove's injury is only 2-4 weeks, but for a team with no frontcourt depth, they could be under .500 by the time he comes back, which would be devastating for a team off to it's best start in over a decade. Atlanta could run small with Marvin at the four and Evans at the three, or run big with Horford at the four and Pachulia at the five.

SUMMARY
I hate talking about LeBron James. He's the same story every game, putting up nearly 30/10/10 every night. The repetition gets old after awhile. Oh wait, this time he added 4 blocks to his usual line. Thanks for keeping it fresh LBJ!

SUMMARY
Wow. Raise your hand if you thought Devin Harris would be the story of the game in Iverson's debut with Detroit? His previous career high in scoring was 27 points against a soft Indiana defense. Another measurment of his explosion: Harris had scored 37 points through his first three games this year. His scoring average jumps from 12.3 to 18.8.

SUMMARYTony Parker followed up his double nickel with an ankle injury and will miss 2-4 weeks. San Antonio should be in full blown panic mode right now. It's time for them to bench Bowen, as it's clear they can't afford to sacrifice any offense right now. Roger Mason got the start over Michael Finley and it could be permanent.
Hey Spurs fans, you know how we talk about your team being too old to be a legit contender? This is why. Parker's been overworked this year and they finally paid for it. This pretty much kills the Spurs chances of home court advantage in the playoffs, if not their playoff chances, as the November hole they're going to dig could be insurmountable in this conference. The last time the Spurs started this badly, they ended up with the #1 pick thanks to David Robinson missing the entire year with an injury. By the time Parker/Ginobili come back you almost have to wonder whether the Spurs would be better off just tanking and calling it a year.

SUMMARY
Shaq didn't play in the 2nd game of a back to back and while rookie Robin Lopez thrived, the rest of the team struggled. Hill got the start for Barnes whose wife is giving birth to twins. Leandro Barbosa should change his name to Dow Jones. Derrick Rose continues to impress and the Bulls should return to the playoffs this season. Aaron Gray got the start at C with Gooden moving to PF and Tyrus Thomas moving back to the bench. Hinrich also got the start over Sefolosha who didn't play until garbage time.

SUMMARY
Brad Miller returned from suspension and had a double-double while starting over Hawes. They combined for 24-18-5 with 3 blocks and 10 fouls. Love and Telfair were inserted into the starting lineup and both responded well.

SUMMARY
Even with Baron Davis, the Clippers are a poor offensive team. He and Kaman had over half of the teams points tonight. There isn't a single player on the team you can rely on from game to game.

After being the main man in game one, T-Mac struggled badly in the second night of a back to back. While this is concerning for Houston, it's a good sign that they still convincingly won despite an 0-5 performance from him.

SUMMARY
Like Iverson, Billups second debut in Denver was overshadowed by a great game from the opposing PG. In a creepy coincidence, Kidd and Harris were the big PGs traded for each other last year. Denver overcame poor shooting by going 37-40 from the FT line.

DUDS
Brandan Wright (GSW) 6 points, 3 blocks, but only 2 rebounds in 20 mins
(on a night the Warriors were outrebounded 55-41, they needed more with Harrington/Maggette out of the lineup.)

SUMMARY
The winds of change are in Golden State. Watson replaced Nelson in the starting lineup. Harrington is out with a back injury/trade demand and was replaced by Wright, with Randolph moving to the reserve role. Belinelli and Marcus Williams even played an unconventional 10 mins each off the bench (for Don Nelson at least). Oh yeah, and Memphis played a good game albeit against a short handed Warriors team. Mayo and Rose are going to fight for ROY all year long. Warrick/Arthur combined for 32 points, and 22 rebounds against the skinny Wright/Randolph duo.

As the community here grows there is an even greater burden placed on myself.

When I get a PS3 the required time to spend editing is going to double. This is going to make it very hard to effectively market and build the site, do necessary research for editing, actually play the game, and just enjoy my life in general.

HTML EDITORSThe site is going to get a visual overhaul soon, but the more willing to offer their help in this endeavor, the better.

DATA COLLECTIONCollecting data for tendencies is very time consuming. In the near future I am going to offer a light monetary sum to anyone willing to do this for me. I am looking for multiple DC's to speed up the process.

NBA RECAPPERSI'm not going to be available every night to do an NBA recap, nor can I watch every game. Additionally, while I like to consider myself very informed (and semi-articulate), I am not the most skilled writer in the world. I would also prefer to spend the bulk of my time editing the roster as the season picks up. If you're an aspiring writer/journalist (or just enjoy writing) and want a venue to post your daily thoughts on the day's NBA action, let me know.

They have his stats on the team's main page, but I wanted his game log.
It's not just him - it's a league-wide problem, they aren't updating player profiles. They are literally a week behind.

Also, their hotspots page (which I heavily base my tendencies on) is screwed up. Most of the team's no longer have data available, and the teams that do, like the Celtics, have each player listed multiple times.

Who is asleep at the wheel in the NBA? Did half their staff quit in favor of more profitable employers like ESPN? Right now they are unable to maintain their website quality and that is simply unacceptable for a billion dollar company with millions of fans.

Yahoo is up to date. ESPN is up to date. Basketball-Reference is up to date. What's the deal with the NBA? All of the above sites list advanced statistics for their players, the NBA is still stuck with basic statistics (which is another fault entirely).

I almost feel like 2K Sports took over NBA.com mangement when they signed the agreement to get "NBA.com in 2k9", because right now, the VG NBA.com is more informative than the real one, which is embarrassing and problematic to say the least.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

MAGIC 98, SIXERS 88
Turk/Shard combined had near identical 20/8/4 games (Turk only had 3 assists), while the Sixer offense struggled again. J.J. Redick had a second straight DNP confirming he has fallen out of the rotation. He may have blown his last chance with the team. Orlando has won 3 in a row (3-2), while Philly falls to 2-4.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

STUDS
Amare Stoudemire (PHX)
49 points (17-21 FG, 15-15 FT), 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks. By far, the best game Amare has ever played in his career. This is what you normally see out of him in an online game of 2K9. No doubt he was aided by the "defense" of Troy Murphy in this one.

DUDS
Shaquille O'Neal? (PHX)
Okay, not really. Shaq obviously took a back seat to Amare and only played 12 minutes. Nobody really played a bad game for either team. Indiana just has no chance against a team like this.

WHY THE SUNS WILL WIN THE WEST

The Suns are playing defense under Terry Porter, and they are looking like the favorites to be the NBA champions in my view. They may not score as much as the past, but they are still the most efficient offensive team in the league, which we tend to forget when we talk about their "pace factor". From what I'm seeing of D'Antoni in NY, that frentic pace is not what got the Suns 60 wins a year, it was their overwhelming talent (Four all-stars with Nash/Amare/Matrix/JJ the first year, two the following year with Amare hurt, and three AS at all other times).

(Suns PER doesn't include their most recent game. And it's obviously still early so their PERs need to be taken with a grain of salt, but in looking at the 03 Spurs, you can see how things will balance out.)

Shaq should be about as effective as the Admiral was in his retirement year.

Amare is the leading man in the paint ala Duncan, though his team defense (something PER does not account for) is still leaps and bounds from Duncan's which is the one thing that could hold this team back from greatness.

Barnes and Bowen are the silent assassins, the offensive afterthoughts who can still nail a three but mostly do other things to help the team.

Jackson and Bell are quite similar, they are there for their defense and can contribute offensively. Jax was the primary backup at SF while the Suns have Hill off the bench.

Nash is obviously significantly better than Parker was at that age.

Barbosa and Ginobili are both 6th man of the year winners, due to their instant offense off the bench. Ginobili wasn't as good as he is today, and while Barbosa is struggling, I think it's fair to say he should at least be able to replicate the season Ginobili had as a rookie.

Malik Rose was actually good back then, though he disappointed after signing his big contract. In that respect, he has quite a bit in common with Boris Diaw. Rose wasn't as versatile as Diaw but they essentially filled the same function, backup PF/C with good defense/rebounding/passing.

Finally, Hill draws the Speedy Claxton comparison. Claxton only played 30 games that year and has missed just as many games as Grant Hill in his career, yet when he does play, he is very effective. Many fans still remember his harrassing defense on Jason Kidd in the Finals. Hill is the same player who could conceivably spend the entire year hurt and then play a huge bench role in the playoffs.

In summary, nobody has picked the Suns to win anything this year because they didn't win the first couple years, and they struggled with Shaq last year. Their run appeared to be over. But Terry Porter seems to have the Suns playing the style they need to play to win playoff basketball, and they are excelling at it. There are frankly more sexy picks out there. As just about everyone has the Lakers, Rockets, or Hornets taking it. And if we hear about a 4th team, it's the Jazz. Few people expect the Suns to have home court advantage in the first round.

Back to the recap...

PISTONS 100, RAPTORS 94

STUDS
Tayshuan Prince (DET)
27 points on 10-14 FG. Detroit is showing they are a pretty good team even without Billups or Iverson.

DUDS
Jermaine O'Neal (TOR)
8 points and 3 rebounds. 3-10 FG, 0 assists, 3 turnovers, 0 blocks. Jermaine is really struggling out of the gate and last season may not have been an injury induced fluke.

HEAT 106, SIXERS 83

STUDS
Dwyane Wade (MIA)
29/7/6 with 5 steals and 3 blocks! Wade is back to putting up monster defensive lines and will probably be named to an all-defensive team this season.

Yakhouba Diawara (MIA)
11 points and hit 3-6 threes.

Andre Iguodala (PHI)
Has really struggled to start the year, going 1-7 tonight with 4 turnovers. He could be struggling to adapt after being the main man since the Iverson trade in 06.

KNICKS 101, Bobcats 98

STUDS
Nate Robinson (NYK)
Nate scored 19 points in the second quarter and it had to feel good sticking it to his former coach Larry Brown, who would bench him anytime he displayed emotion. He scored 24 tonight on 9-12 shooting including 5-5 on threes. He also dished 5 assists.

DUDS
Quentin Richardson (NYK)
Q was 1-7 tonight as it was Wilson Chandler's turn for a big night, with 18 and 7 off the bench to go with 3 blocks (which vaults him into the team lead, with 3).

CELTICS 96, THUNDER 83

STUDS
Pierce (BOS)
20/9/5 for Pierce in a game that'll never be a fair fight.

DUDS
Thunder Offense (OKC)
Another 37% shooting night.

HAWKS 87, Hornets 79

STUDS
Marvin Williams (ATL)
Williams only scored 11 points, but he went 3-3 on threes after going 1-10 all of last year. Told you he added that shot.

STUDS
Luke Ridnour (MIL)
Returned from injury and finally had a good game to hold Ramon Sessions at bay. Scored 20 points and dished 11 assists

Ramon Sessions (MIL)
Scored 22 points and dished 8 assists. Combined with Ridnour for 42 points, 19 assists, 10 rebounds, and 3 steals. This looks like the new Ford/Calderon. Milwaukee isn't going to lose many games with that kind of production from the PG spot.

Richard Jefferson (MIL)
Has struggled with his shooting to start the year, but broke out here with 32 points and 9 rebounds.

Luc Mbah a Moute (MIL)
17 and 6 off the bench. How did this guy slip to the second round???

DUDS
Antonio Daniels/DeShawn Stevenson (WAS)
Combined for 1-8 shooting, and some poor defense. Michael Redd did not even play and the Wiz were burned by mediocre PGs.

SPURS 129, WOLVES 125 (2OT)

STUDS
Tony Parker (SAS)
Parker had never scored 40 points in a regular season game, setting his career high against Nash in the playoffs, so for him to have a 55 point game is truly remarkable, trumps Amare's performance, and could be the greatest performance Parker ever has. 7 rebounds and 10 assists were just icing on the cake. He shot 22-36 from the field (2-3 3pt) and 9-10 from the line.

Tim Duncan (SAS)
Lost in the shuffle of TP's night was Duncan with 30 pts and 16 rebs. While both players are performing well in Ginobili's absence, that they combined for 85 points and barely beat the Timberwolves in double OT is probably not a good sign regarding their chances of winning a championship. Hard as it might be to believe, they could actually miss the playoffs if they dig themselves too deep a hole early - remember you need 50 wins minimum to even make the playoffs in the west.

Roger Mason (SAS)
Mase is doing everything he can to fill Ginobili's shoes, scoring 26 off the bench on 9-16 shooting.

Al Jefferson (MIN)
30 pts and 14 rebs to cancel out Duncan's night.

Mike Miller (MIN)
25 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, easily his best performance of the season so far. Hit 5 of 7 threes and only committed 1 TO.

DUDS
Whoever was guarding Tony Parker (MIN)
I'm guessing this was Randy Foye, which would mark his 3rd consecutive appearance on this list, but he finally had a good offensive game (11 pts and 9 ast) so I want to spare him. And Sebastian Telfair had 8 pts and 10 assists in his debut off the bench, so it's tough to criticize him either. TP is just a tough matchup for Minnesota as they don't really have the tools to stop him. There is no looming shotblocker in the middle either, which makes it especially tough on the rest of the team defensively.

JAZZ 103, BLAZERS 96

STUDS
The Utah Jazz (UTA)
They are 4-0 without Deron Williams and are playing flawless team basketball. The quartet of Booze, Okur, AK, and Millsap combined for 69 points.

DUDS
Nobody. Portland just isn't good enough on either end to matchup even with Deron Williams out.

DUDS
Mike Conley (MEM)
4 pts and 6 asts as he struggles out of the gate this year.

Beno Udrih (SAC)
4 pts and 6 asts as he struggles out of the gate this year.

WARRIORS 111, NUGGETS 101
STUDS
Brandan Wright (GSW)
Had the best game of his career with 18 pts, 13 rebs, and 3 blks off the bench. For the love of god Nellie, do not bench this kid the following game. He's an Al Harrington trade away from being the league's most improved player.